Land Property Rights in Pakistan

In Chapter 5, land property rights in Pakistan have been thoroughly explained. Some landowners possess official documentation for landownership, which is known as registry in Pakistan, and this documentation gives them legal rights. However, in the study regions, as per survey results, most of the land has been orally transferred from one generation to the next, and the documentation was very old. Land distribution and land transfer among heirs has not been properly managed, which eventually causes serious problems, land degradation being one of these.

For this chapter, in order to analyze the situation of land degradation, it was important to investigate land distribution rights for the heirs; this analysis was helpful in answering the main research questions. In this context, the questions to be answered were: 1) Is the land to be distributed among the heirs? 2) In case of distribution, is land to be transferred to the actual landowner or to someone else authorized for the use of the land? 3) What sort of conflicts are evolved in the regions because of the improper implementation of land distribution laws?

6.2.3 Inheritance Patterns in the Study Region

The hereditary system is based on Islamic inheritance law⁴⁰. People of this region in Pakistan believe in the traditional and cultural family system, which is comprised of father, mother, and children (and in the case of marriage, families of sons), who all live in one house (unit of analysis). On average, a household consisted of ten members in this region, with a family structure as shown in Figure 6.1. In some cases, other family members such as mother, brothers, or unmarried sisters of the father were also living in the same house.

40 Islamic Inheritance Law is explained in Chapter 5.

Figure 6.1: Standard Family Unit with Five Children, in which one Son is Married Source: Own Presentation

Generally, the father played a significant role with respect to the well-being of his family unit and was responsible for fulfilling all the needs of his house. For this reason, he was considered the head of household and, in his life could own the entire property by himself.

During the survey conducted in the region, various inheritance patterns were observed. In one third of visited household, land was transferred only to the eldest son, because of family traditions, as they considered that, with the distribution of the land, the family would lose its power. Another pattern was found again in one third of the households, where land was transferred orally, and in practice, the land was handed over to the eldest son or some other senior member of the family to look after. In this distribution, all shareholders had knowledge of their shares, but they were not able to use their rights, as they had made some family compromises, as per the culture of the family. Some other patterns were also observed, where landowners were enjoying full rights.

Son 1

Granddaughter Grandson

Daughter-in-law

Mother

Son 2 Unmarried

daughter Father

Son 3 Unmarried

daughter

According to the Stamp Act, 1899 (see Section 5.5), the some registered landowners particularly females, who were culturally bounded and were not able to perform legal different tasks, enpowered the attorneys as an agent to act on their behalf. Other inheritance patterns are explained in Figure 6.2 and 6.3. In Figure 6.2, all the living sharers among which the property is distributed are shown; the mother and the spouse of the deceased are also alive and have received their share of the property as per the rule, but they have distributed their share among their offspring. Hence, mathematically, the distribution of shares can be presented as below.

If the deceased has five children, e.g., three sons and two daughters, every sharer can receive the following fixed shares from his estate.

Share of the spouse = 1/8 6.1

Share of the mother = 1/6 6.2

For the share of daughters and sons, the ratio is 2:1

For five children 2+2+2+1+1= 8 6.3

Share of each daughter = 1/8 6.4

Share of each son = 2(1/8) = 1/4 6.5

The widow and the mother of the deceased distributed their shares among their heirs. As per the law, the sharers in the widow’s property were the children of deceased, and as a mother, she could give her share to her children. Similarly, the deceased mother distributed her share among her legal heirs who are her children and children of the deceased (grandchildren can only receive their father’s share in the property of the grandparents providing that their father is died). An explanation of property distribution is given in Table 6.1.

Table 6.1: Common Practices of the Distribution of the Property List of the persons

involved in distribution of the land

Sharers with a fixed share

Children

Spouse Mother

Son Daughter Shares of everyone in

deceased property 1/8 1/6 1/4 1/8

Division of spouse share -1/8 1/32 1/64

Division of mother’s

share -1/6

Son Daughter

1/24 1/48

Share of deceased

children in grandmother’s property

1/96 1/192

Total share of everyone 0 1/24 1/48 7/24 7/48

Source: Own Presentation

In this situation, for the distribution of one third of the portion of the property, no written will was available in most cases. For all such cases, the whole property, after the removal of funeral expenditures and debt due from the deceased, were to be distributed between shareholders as shown in Figure 6.2.

Figure 6.2: Share of Inheritance in Case of Redistribution of Widow’s and Mother’s Share

Source: Own presentation

In Figure 6.3, another observed situation is presented, which was quite common in the study areas. In this situation, the eldest son had died, and his share was distributed to his orphans, but these orphan grandsons were not the sharers in the property of the mother of their grandfather. Hence, the share of grandchildren was reduced to 9/32, and as per the rule, this was distributed between the brothers and sisters at the ratio of 2:1. In this case, the granddaughter would receive 3/32, and the grandson’s share would be 6/32.

Wife Son 2

7/24

Daughter1 7/48

Mother Son1

7/24

Son 3 7/24

Daughter2 7/48

Sister 2 1/48 Brother 1

1/24 Brother 2

1/24

Sister 1 1/48

Figure 6.3: Share of Inheritance in Case of Redistribution of Widow and Mother’s Share and one Son is also Died

Source: Own presentation

Some of the landowners of the region reported that they owned smaller than average size plots after the distribution of estate among the heirs of a large family. Culture of the joint family in the region promotes family compromises and arrangements. The main intention of these compromises is to avoid disputes in the family, but severe conflicts related to land distribution and land transfer were observed between the family members during the survey. These created problems not only in the relationships between family members, but also had effects on the fertility of the soil, as crop burning and water dispersal were common results of conflicts between different shareholders.

Wife Son 2

7/24

Daughter1 7/48

Mother

Son1 Son 3

7/24

Daughter2 7/48

Sister 2 1/48 Brother 1

1/24 Brother 2

1/24

Sister 1 1/48

Grandson 6/32

Granddaughter 3/32

6.3 Results

6.3.1 Land Distribution among Heirs

In most of the families, land was not distributed in a proper way, the land still being registered in the fathers or even grandfather’s name. These families had availed themselves of the facility, provided by law, that a ‘will’ could be executed at any time after the death of the testator. Initially, family members were made to comprise and, according to the family traditions, allowed one of the family members to take charge of the estate. Generally, this member was eldest living son, who established himself as being authorized to look after the property. In the Shaikhupura-Kamoki region, fifteen households were found in which their land had not been distributed at all. In Qadirabad Dam region, the number exceeded twenty, but in Nandipur region, this number was lower than that in the second region, and only fifteen households were found who had not distributed their land (Table 6.2).

Table 6.2: Number of Households according to Land Distribution and Control over Land in the Study Regions

Situation SKR QR NR

Land was not distributed at all 15 20 15

Land was distributed, but not yet transferred to actual owner as partition was made orally

15 19 15

Land was distributed and actual

landowner had full possession 20 11 20

Total number of visited

households 50 50 50

Source: Field Survey (2008)

Another common situation was that distribution had occurred according to the oral transfer of the property. Through this distribution, landowners were awarded some specific rights, mainly to cultivate their land and to look after it, but they were not allowed to sell their land, because it had not been legally transferred to them. In this case, documentation was either very old or some of the members had obtained temporary documentation from the local patwari for the

partition. These types of distribution cases numbered thirty percent in the Shaikhupura-Kamoki region, thirty eight percent in then Qadirabad Dam region, and again thirty percent in the Nandipur region (data shown in Table 6.2).

In these regions, only a few households were found who were enjoying full land rights, as land was not only distributed, but the landowners had full possession of their land. In these cases, the landowners had their complete documentation with a new cadastral document signed by the sub-registrar. These cases involved forty percent, twenty two percent, and forty percent for visited households in each region as presented in Table 6.2.

Table 6.3: Results of Land Distribution Structure on Land Degradation for all Study Regions

Variables Estimated Coefficients t values

Results for SKR

Constant 150.76 4.55*

Land distribution (Ldis) -55.90 -3.38**

Transfer of land (LT) -11.43 -2.06**

Results for QR

Constant 113.78 3.40**

Land distribution (Ldis) -28.26 1.71***

Transfer of land (LT) -19.63 -3.20**

Results for NR

Constant 12.01 4.05*

Land distribution (Ldis) -2.60 -1.77***

Transfer of land (LT) -0.88 -2.52**

Source: Field Survey 2008

* Significant at level 0.01

* Significant at level 0.01

** Significant at level 0.05

*** Significant at level 0.1

Mainly these regions were selected on the basis of the degree of land degradation; the Shaikhupura-Kamoki region was declared as a medium-level degraded area on the basis of soil fertility. Similarly, the Qadirabad Dam region was a highly degraded area, and the Nandipur region was a less degraded area. To determine whether the intergenerational land distribution and transfer of land among heirs was the reason for land degradation, a regression analysis was performed, which gave the following results expressed in Table 6.3.

These results showed that the variable of land degradation regressed on other two variables; one variable being ‘intergenerational land distribution’ and second one being

‘transfer of land among all heirs’. All the estimated co-efficients established that these variables are significant for causing degradation of land in all three regions, and so the hypothesis that ‘land distribution among heirs is also a reason for land degradation and causes bad effects on the land’ can be accepted. Negative values of estimated coefficients show the inverse relationship of the dependent and independent variables, which mean that more land will be degraded following further improper land distribution and a poor land transfer structure in the region.

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

0 1 2

Land Distribution Transfer of Land

Degraded Land (In Acres)

Land Distribution Land Transfer

Figure 6.4: Relation of Land distribution and Transfer of Land with Land Degradation in Shaikhupura-Kamoki Region

Source: Own Presentation, field survey 2008

Figure 6.4 depicts the relationship of land distribution among heirs and the transfer of land with respect to land degradation in the Shaikhupura-Kamoki region. The steeper line of the land distribution with a negative slope of value 55.90 shows that the land distribution in this region has a strong effect on the land degradation, whereas the more flattered line of the land transfer of value 2.06 means that this variable is significant but comparatively less effective.

Here, the value of R² is 0.34, indicating that thirty four percent of the variance of the observed data was well explained.

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

0 1 2

Land Distribution Transfer of Land

Degraded Land (In Acres)

Land Distribution Land Transfer

Figure 6.5: Relation of Land distribution and Transfer of Land with Land Degradation in Qadirabad Dam Region

Source: Own Presentation, field survey 2008

Figure 6.5 reveals the same relationship of land degradation with the two independent variables, viz., land distribution and transfer of land among heirs from one generation to the next, for the Qadirabad Dam Region. The trend is again negative, which is in agreement with the hypothesis of this study; however, the values of the slopes for these two variables in this region are different from those of the previous region, as here the value of the slope of land distribution is 28.26 and the value of the slope for transfer of land is 19.63. These results indicate that both the variables have an effect on land degradation, but that the land distribution is significantly less effective on degradation with significance at the ninety

percent confidence interval, whereas the transfer of land shows significance at the ninety five percent confidence interval and is more strongly related to the dependent variable than in case study region SKR. In this case study region, the value of R² is 0.324, which shows that, in this case, the variance of observed data is less well explained than in the previous case.

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

0 1 2

Land Distribution Transfer of Land

Degraded Land (In Acres)

Land Distribution Land Transfer

Figure 6.6: Relation of Land distribution and Transfer of Land with Land Degradation in Nandipur Region

Source: Own Presentation, field survey 2008

As in above two relationships, Figure 6.6 demonstrates the negative relationship of land degradation dependent on land distribution and land transfer for the third case study region, but here these two variables show a weak response in comparison with the previous two cases.

In this case, the value of the slope of land distribution is 2.60, and the value of the slope of transfer of land is only 0.883, with R² also being as low as 0.122, indicating that only twelve percent of the variance is explained, and the data are much scattered. Scientifically, these weaker results show that the land degradation in this region is also caused by other factors, which have been considered as being constant for this analysis.

These results clearly indicate that the land distribution and transfer of land among generations play a significant and important role in the sustainability of land use. These results can be explained with the help of the ownership structure in Figure 6.7. In the first category,

the land is not distributed, and the families prefer to live together; as per family traditions, the eldest son or other senior member of the family (uncle) is the custodian of all the estate. In this case, the management of a resource is very important. According to Bromley’s definition, resource management is a structure of rights and duties between different individuals with respect to that particular resource.

0 5 10 15 20 25

Land was not distributed at all

Land was patially distributed,

Land was transfered

Number of Households

SKR QR NR

Figure 6.7: Pattern of Land Distribution in Study Regions Source: Own Presentation, field survey 2008

Extensive use of these combined agriculture farms to fulfill the needs of an extended family has caused deterioration in the quality of soil, and because of the production of specific yields of the mono-cash crops to increase gains, the land has started to lose its productivity. The excess use of fertilizers and pesticides is another reason for the reduction of soil fertility in the region. The care taker is looking only for immediate benefit and ignores the future loss of the land (Cropper 1988: 13). However, because of the negligence of actual owners, they had to cost in the form of land degradation.

In the second case from Figure 6.7, the land was distributed, but this transfer was oral, and every shareholder knew his share in land. He could cultivate his land by himself but was still bound with respect to other rights, such as alienation, sale, and future transfer to some other

person in the family. The majority of households had documents of partition, which they had obtained from the local patwari. This is a type of kinship group, and according to Larson and Bromley (1989: 237), the owners have some restrictions placed upon them by the other family members or the other owners of the land, and so in this case, the resource is degraded because of insufficient property rights. The main reason of the degradation in this case is the behavior of the group members, as they are unable to act in a socially responsible manner; they blame each other for the low cooperation and coordination for cultivation of land (Demsetz 1967).

No one is willing to accept the authority of anyone else and attempts to make himself as well-off as possible, without taking care of the welfare of other family members. Eventually, a reduction in the efficiency of soil and productivity of land results.

In the third case of Figure 6.7, each landowner had full rights with complete control over his land. This was the case of private property, and according to the literature, the private property regime gives the best results for resource conservation, because of its specific characteristics of management, the decision-making power of ownership, better investment planning, better time utilization for crop cultivation, and improved knowledge about crop rotation. However, sometimes, the owner cannot save his land from the degradation occurring as a result of other effects; for example, as in my study, the lack of input and investment, because of the poverty of the landowners, and their attempts to maximize current profits, with no regard for future resource conditions, are the major reasons for resource deterioration.

From the above discussion, the hypothesis presented in this study, “land distribution among heirs is also a reason of land degradation in the region”, can be accepted. These results show the land distribution effect is strongest in the region Shaikhupura-Kamoki. Although the results show almost equal trends, for further explanations together with the distribution and transfer details, the conflicts related to this issue have also been tested, and some important results have been found.

6.3.2 Conflicts Resulting from Land Distribution

Transfer of property in the next generation is necessary for the redistribution of wealth and the security of succession. However, most of the family members were not good at social relations at the time of distribution, and so transfer became crucial in the presence of such issues and caused conflicts of interests. During this study, various conflicts were observed between the landowners for a given pattern of land distribution (Figure 6.7). For the same

pattern of land distribution, another regression line was estimated for the three different regions, and here the respondent variable was conflicts on the basis of land distribution among the heirs, and the explanatory variable was land degradation in the region. The results of this are given in Table 6.4.

Table 6.4: Relation between Conflicts about Land Distribution and Land Degradation

Variables Estimated Coefficients t values

Results for SKR

Constant 7.75 1.28

Land distribution Conflicts(Cdis) 15.99 2.42**

Results for QR

Constant 20.12 5.04*

Land distribution Conflicts(Cdis) 17.34 3.53**

Results for NR

Constant 5.05 21.58*

Land distribution Conflicts(Cdis) 0.93 2.94**

Source: Survey 2008

* Significance level = 1%

** Significance level = 5%

According to the results given in Table 6.4, the conflicts related to land distribution had a

According to the results given in Table 6.4, the conflicts related to land distribution had a

Im Dokument The role of property rights for land degradation and land use conflicts (Seite 153-0)